882 



PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



the winter season, in drawing sledges over the snow, and transporting wood, forage, and other necessaries ; 

 but in summer they are turned into the forests, where they form separate troops, strictly confined to their 

 own quarters. 



5560. The British varieties of saddle horse may be reduced into the racer, the hunter, 

 the improved hack, the old English road horse, the galloway, and the pony ; the two 

 latter of which we shall consider in another place. 



5561. The race horse {fitr. 604.) is descended, 

 some from Arabians and others from Barbs, but 

 principally the former. Races or courses were very 

 early a part of British sports ; and it is natural to 

 suppose that on this account, endeavors would be 

 made to improve and enlarge the breeds of the na- 

 tive horses. Roger de Bellesme, Earl of Shrews- 

 bury, is the first on record who imported a Spanish 

 stallion, whose progeny was afterwards extolled 

 by Michael Drayton, in his Polyalbion. In the 

 reign of Henry IV., public ordinances were 

 made favorable to the improvement of the breed- 

 ing of horses. The courses of those times were, 

 however, probably little more than ordinary trials 

 of speed between the indigen(e or the slightly im- 

 proved breeds ; and it was not until the days 

 of Henry VII. and VIII., that the ttue Arabian 

 horses were imported. During these reigns, stal. 

 lions from Arabia, Barbary, and Persia were procured, their progeny wer.3 regularly trained to the 

 course, and from these periods we trace that gradual cultivation of the English race horse, which has, 

 at length, produced a breed unrivalled throughout the world for symmetry of form, swiftness of progres- 

 sion, and durability under exertion. The accounts on record of feats performed by some of our horses 

 on the turf are truly astonishing. Bay Malton, ran at York, four miles in seven minutes and forty-three 

 seconds. Childers, known by the name of the flying Childers, moved through a space equal to eighty. two 

 feet and a half in a second. After these Eclipse, Highflyer, Matchem, Harabletonian, and others, have 

 contributed to keep up the reputation of the Knglish racer. 



5562. Climate has a great influence over the form, of animals, and that forhi is found indigenous to each, 

 which best fits it for the purposes required of it. In the arid plains of the east where herbage is scarce, 

 a form is given which enables its brute inhabitants to readily transport themselves from one spot to an- 

 other ; and as in every situation the flesh of the horse is greedily sought after by the predatory tribes, so 

 here, where those are peculiarly strong and active, the horse is formed peculiarly agile and swift to escape 

 their attack, as well as peculiarly light, that his weight might not sink him in the sandy plains, nor his 

 bulk retard him in his flight. Removed, however, to more temperate climes, where vegetation affwrds by 

 its luxuriance more nutriment, and where the restrictions of danger have ceased to operate, we no lon- 

 ger see him equally small and slender, but with equal capacity for swift progression, we find him ex- 

 panded into a form capable of keeping U]) that progression with a durability unknown to the original 

 breeds from whence he sprang Symmetrically formed as we now see him, he at once evinces his claim 

 to great speed. His osseous or bony skeleton exhibits a base founded on the juste^t geometrical prin- 

 ciples, presenting a series of lengthened levers acting by means of a condensed muscular and tendinous 

 organization of great power, on angles capable of great flexion and extension : while his pointed form 

 fits him to cleave that atmosphere, from which his deep chest enables him to draw by extensive inspira- 

 tions wind and vigour to continue his exertions. Purity of blood, by which is meant the result of confining 

 to particular races or breeds the means of continuing their species, is observed with equal care and jealousy 

 by the breeders of the English race, as by the Arabians ; ^05 



and turf jockies assert they can discover a taint or de- 

 parture from this purity to the sixteenth remove. 



5563. The hunter {fig. 605.) is derived from horses of 

 entire blood, or such as are but little removed from it, 

 uniting with mares of substance, correct form, and 

 good action. In some instances hunters are derived 

 from large mares of the pure breed, propagating with 

 powerful stallions of the old English road horse. This 

 favorite and valuable breed is a happy combination of 

 the speed of the Arabian, with the durability of tl)e 

 native horse. More extended in form, but framed on 

 the same principles, he is able to carry a considerab'e 

 weight through heavy grounds with a swiftness equalU d 

 only by the animal he pursues, and with a perseverance 

 astonishing to the natives' of every other country. 

 Hence the extreme demand for this breed of horses 

 in every European country; our racing stallions 

 being now sent to propagate in the eastern climes, 

 from whence they were some of them originally 

 brought. 



5.5P1. The improved hackney {fig. 606.) is derived, like the former, from a judicious mixture of the 

 blood breed with the native horse, but exhibiting a greater proportion of the latter. Hacknies are now, 



however, mostly bred from stallions possessing nearly the 



same proportion of blood with the hunter; but with a 



form and qualities somewhat differing In the hackney 



as safety is as requisite as speed, we look particularly to 



the fore parts to see that they are high and well-placed ; 



that the head is not heavy, nor the neck disproportion- 



^^^^^^^^^^^^ ately long or short ; thai the legs stand straight, (that is, 



M\ ^B^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^jJL, ^'''"'^ ^ pL>rpendicular line drawn from the point of the 



^'' WKsS^^^^^^B^^^^MMbt. shoulder should meet the toe) ; and that the elbows turn 



out: and although a perfect conformation in the hinder 

 parts is necessary to the hackney, it is in some measure 

 subordinate to the same perfection in the fore parts; 

 whereas in the racer and hunter, but particularly in the 



former, the form of the hinder is even of more conse- 



- quence than that of the fore parts. 



5565. The old English road horse. This most useful 



-^^ij^'i'^ breed is now nearly extinct, although some northern 

 agriculturists appear to be making efforts to revive the 

 race. It has so long been known in this country that it might almost he reckoned among its indigenae : 

 althou^ It IS probable that it origmaUy sprang from a judicious culture from horses of Norman, German, 



